Comparisons of management practices and farm design on Australian commercial layer and meat chicken farms: Cage, barn and free range.

ABSTRACT: There are few published studies describing the unique management practices, farm design and housing characteristics of commercial meat chicken and layer farms in Australia. In particular, there has been a large expansion of free range poultry production in Australia in recent years, but limited information about this enterprise exists. This study aimed to describe features of Australian commercial chicken farms, with particular interest in free range farms, by conducting on-farm interviews of 25 free range layer farms, nine cage layer farms, nine barn layer farms, six free range meat chicken farms and 15 barn meat chicken farms in the Sydney basin bioregion and South East Queensland. Comparisons between the different enterprises (cage, barn and free range) were explored, including stocking

SUBMITTER: Scott AB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5699831 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature